$re = '/^[a-zA-Z]:\(?:\w+\\\\?)*$/';
$str = 'C
C:
C:/
C://
C:\\
C:\\\\
C:\\Documents\\Newsletters\\Summer2018.pdf
\\Program Files\\Custom Utilities\\StringFinder.exe
2018\\January.xlsx
..\\Publications\\TravelBrochure.pdf
C:\\Projects\\apilibrary\\apilibrary.sln
C:Projects\\apilibrary\\apilibrary.sln
\\\\system07\\C$\\
\\\\Server2\\Share\\Test\\Foo.txt
\\\\.\\C:\\Test\\Foo.txt
\\\\?\\C:\\Test\\Foo.txt
C:\\utilities\\filecompare\\
c:\\utilities\\filecompare\\
\\\\Server\\Share
';
preg_match($re, $str, $matches, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE, 0);
// Print the entire match result
var_dump($matches);
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php